Van Gisbergen: NASCAR rivals 'aggressive but fair'

Shane van Gisbergen (#91) was moved aside by Alex Bowman (#48) in his second NASCAR Cup Series start. Image: Julia Ingall

Shane van Gisbergen has given his take on NASCAR driving standards after getting involved in the cut and thrust of racing in traffic in his second Cup Series start.

The three-time Supercars champion won on debut in NASCAR’s first ever street race, in Chicago, but faced a more challenging proposition at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course given it was he who had the experience deficit.

Van Gisbergen qualified eighth and spent the bulk of the 82-lap race on the edge of the top 10, at least in effective terms.

Whereas his Chicago outing was clean enough, the Project91 Chevrolet driver was on the giving and receiving end of some contact at The Brickyard.

“It’s hard here because everyone’s on it,” he explained, post-race.

“Everyone knows the track and there’s a lot more room for error. Everyone’s racing aggressively.

“I can’t thank the Project91 guys here enough for the Enhance Chevy; [it was] so much fun to be back. Hopefully [I] can do more.

“I had an awesome battle with Kyle [Larson] and Christopher [Bell] there. They got the better of me at the end, but battling with those guys was great.”

Van Gisbergen had made side-to-side contact with Bell as he took over seventh position at the first corner of the race and later nudged Ty Gibbs into a spin at the same location.

Three laps later, it was he who would cop a bump when Alex Bowman decided he wanted eighth position.

“It’s aggressive, but it’s fair,” declared SVG of the racing.

“I put a block on the 48 [Bowman], and the next corner, he just moved me. I guess I deserved that.

“The racing was fun. I really enjoyed it. All the battling when you go through a move on someone, they give you room and they expect it back. Really cool.”

Fellow Supercars driver Brodie Kostecki climbed from rear of grid after a qualifying crash to finish 22nd in his Cup Series debut.

Both will be in action at The Bend this weekend when the Supercars season resumes with the OTR SuperSprint.